A Clean Sweep for ‘The Dirty Picture’

‘Teri isse buri haalat kya hogi silk
Ki tere dushman bhi tujhe chahne lage hain’

By Akanksha Bansal

The rise and fall of Silk Smitha is what this film is all about. But in an attempt to chronicle Silk’s lustrous career and thereafter unceremonious downfall the makers of the film have also been able to capture the machinery responsible for churning out ‘Silks’ in Film industry.

Handling a subject like this was definitely tough considering the multifaceted plot centred on a single subject.

Also, while taking up the subject of film industry’s penchant for ‘the sexy’ and ‘the vulgar’, this film itself had to deal with a lot of sex and sleaze. And one had to be careful about not making a fool of oneself while satirising someone on the same subject.

Milan Luthria has done a fabulous job at it. He has been able to avoid narrating a boring biographical account through his own interpretations but without being judgemental.

Silk is not a product of solely her hard work and hedonism but also of a strong cocktail of hypocrisy inherent in the moral structure of the society, male dominant industry, tussle of power between actors, directors and producers, and money hungry titillating cinema. The development of her character from a simpleton to a sex bomb is well defined.

Her awe of her own influence on the audience develops into realisation of her ability to create magic at the box office, maturing into a confidence to be able to create blockbusters singlehandedly. The climax turns out to be a little messy and shortlived but by that time one is dying for a conclusion hence no one minds a quick wrap up.
The climax is fitting in that her enemy turns into her lover and garners fame following her philosophy. But then a woman is doomed while a man is praised even when treading the same path. The tone of the film is emotional, comic, tragic, ironic and lyrical – all at the same time and hence it does not feel like a boring biography but a story with interpretations and yet not judgemental. A considerable effort and intelligence has been invested in creating an ambience of the 80’s which s largely successful. Rajat Arora has penned some fine dialogues which form a strong point of the film.
The costumes are intimidating but justified and carried well by Vidya. Among actors Vidya and Naseeruddin stand out from the rest. Vidya’s performance is so strong that apart from her strengths one can notice her weaknesses as well.
One is undoubtedly reminded of Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion but even then no comparisons can be made. To sum it all there are very few films which aim high initially and manage a safe landing. The Dirty Picture is one of those rare films.

The writer Akanksha Bansal is our new columnist who will be writing movie reviews for us every month. She is a linguist pursuing her research at JNU, New Delhi. She holds interest in fine arts and visual arts. In her free time she likes to sketch and read. You can get in touch with Akanksha at akanksha@thesipoflife.com